1 Claim. 01. 248--229) This invention relates to a portable transfusion apparatus carrier, and more particularly to a'carrier construction, which is removably attachable to a hospital bed or stretcher.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate the present cumbersome standard heretofor employed for many years and to substitute a'simplified support which is directly attachable to the bed or to the wheeled stretcher.

It is the further object of the present invention to provide a simplified construction whereby the transfusion or intravenous apparatus may be simply and easily mounted upon the supporting mechanism and wherein the latter is provided with means permitting vertical adjustment.

It is the further object of this invention to provide a carrier which is not supported upon the floor and, therefore, occupies no floor space.

It is the further object of this invention to provide a standard for the present carrier, which maybe fastened to any vertical, round, square, or flat post.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claim in conjunction with the appended drawings.

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the intravenous fluid carrier as mounted upon the leg post of a bed, the latter being fragmentarily shown.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of such carrier as mounted upon a wheeled stretcher.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the carrier on a slightly enlarged scale with the lower end of the standard thereof broken away.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the standard securing clamp.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 77 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 99 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary elevational view of the upper portion of the carrier illustrating the use of a traction bar thereon.

Fig. 11 is an elevational view partly broken away illustrating a slight variation in the construction of the present carrier; and

Fig. 12 is a section taken on line 12-12 of Fig. 11.

It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and

that other embodiments are contemplated within scope of the claims hereafter set out.

Referring to the drawings the present portable intravenous fiuid carrier as shown in Fig. 1 is directly mounted upon the bed A, which has an upright leg or bed post 11 of rectangular cross-section. Laterally extending bracket arm 12 has a clamping device upon its outer end, which consists of the arcuate clamping element 13 having an interior arcuate surface 14, which is adapted to engage one side of the bed post as, for instance, the round post 24 forming a part of the wheeled stretcher such as illustrated in Figures 2 and 6.

Said clamping device also includes a forwardly spaced plate 15, which has a transverse threaded opening to receive the threaded bolt 16, which as shown in Fig. 5 has an operating handle 17 secured thereto as by the pin 18.

Rectangularly shaped clamping block 19 has a central recess upon one side thereof to receive the outer end of bolt 16, as well as, the spaced collars 20 thereon; there 2,696,963 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 being a transverse pin 21, which extends into plate 19 between said collars for securing said plate to said bolt.

The outer face of the clamping block 19 has an elongated central notch 22 of V-shape in cross-section in order to cooperatively engage the corner 23 of bed post 11 as shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 6, said clamping plate 19 operatively and retainingly engages the opposite side of the post 24 of the stretcher B, such as illustrated in Fig. 2.

Thus the above described clamp is adapted to engage any upright post whether, round, square, oval, or fiat.

The present carrier includes a hollow upright standard 25, which is secured at its lower end within the enlarged boss 26 upon the outer end of the clamp arm 12 as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The upper end of said standard has a threaded portion 27, which is adapted to receive the depending interiorly threaded portion 29 of the manually rotative cap 28.

Vertically adjustable tube or shaft 30 is positioned within standard 25 and projects from the upper end thereof, being loosely received by the cap 28, which has a central transverse opening therethrough. The friction locking collet 31 is illustrated in Fig. 7 as being split upon one side as at 32 and having an oppositely arranged notch 33, therein to render the same flexible.

Said collet as shown in Fig. 4 is supported within an annular recess 34 at the upper end of standard 25, whereas, the upper portion of said collet is received within a similarly shaped recess 35 formed within the cap 28.

When the cap 28 is loosened upon the threads 27, collet 31 may expand to its normal shape and permit the shaft 30 to be adjusted vertically within said collet and standard. When cap 28 is tightened, said collet is slightly distorted by said cap so as to frictionally engage shaft 30 locking the same in its located position.

An elongated cylindrical cap 36 is positioned upon the upper end of the hollow shaft 30 and has a threaded depending shank 37, which extends down into the top of said shaft as shown in Fig. 4. Cap 36 has a transverse slot of rectangular cross-section adapted to adjustably receive one end of traction bar 38, there being a suitable set screw 39 in said cap and cooperable with said traction bar for securing the same in the desired adjusted position as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

A plurality of transverse openings 39 are formed within a bar'38 and are adapted to receive the swivel hooks 40, which as shown in Fig. 10 are adapted to receive the cross bar 41 on the limb support 42'. It will be noted in Figure 10 that leg L is supported by said traction bar. The present construction permits the use of this carrier. for fracture and traction settings for the legs and arms of a patient.

One or more laterally extending container clamping arms 42 are arranged in'vertically spaced relation and adjustably mounted and secured by the caps 28 upon the shaft 30. The .outer ends of the clamp arms 42 terminate in the arcuate semi-circular container clamping elements 43. Oppositely arranged arcuate container clamping element 44 has a base portion 45, and at the end of said base is provided a leg.46, which engages clamp element 42. Clamping element-44 is adjustable with respect to clamping element '43 by means of the threadedbolt 47 which loosely extends through the base 45 of clamp element 44 and threadably engages clamp arm 42. The head 48 of said bolt operatively engages clamp base 45 for drawingthe clamp element 44 towards clamp element 43 for securing the'fiuid containers 54 and 55 therein in the manner illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

In the manner above described, there are also provided suitable friction locking collets 31, which are partly positioned within annular recesses 34 in the upper ends of threaded portions 53 and with the other portions of said collets cooperatively received and engaged by interior portions of the cap 28 whereby the clamping arms 42 may be manually adjusted longitudinally and with respect to the shaft. and secured in adjusted position. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a flexible tube 56 interconnects the. lower ends of fluid containers 54 and. 55, and a second tube 57 delivers the intravenous fiuig to the patient upon the bed A. or upon the stretcher Circular collar 58 is vertically adjustable upon shaft 30 and may be secured thereon by set screw 59. Laterally extending arm 60 is joined at one end to. collar 58 and has a supported hook. 61 at its outer end. Arcuate strap 62. is centrally mounted upon hook 6.1 and its opposite ends are joined as at points 63 to intermediate portions of the inverted U-shaped end. supports 64. Said supports. 64 are joined at their ends as at 65 to the arm rest 66', and by this construction there is provided a universal mounting for said arm rest.

The present arm rest may be used if desired to provide a support for the patients arm, or leg, and may be swung, out of the way when not. in use. Said support is effective, but at the same time, is not rigidly suspended so that the patient may still have some freedom of movement.

Laterally extending supporting arm 67' has an enlarged boss 68 at its inner end with a transverse circular opening. therethrough which receives shaft 30 and thus permits vertical adjustments of said arm upon said shaft. Set screw 69 provides a means for securing said arm in any desired vertically adjusted position.

Table 70 has a central depending stem 71, which projects down through a transverse opening in the boss 72 upon the outer end of arm 67, there being a suitable spacer 73 interposed between the under surface of said table and said boss.

By this construction, there is provided a suitable table which may be used if desired, but may be swivelled out of the way when not in use, or may be eliminated entirely if desired.

A slight variation in simplified form is shown in Fig. 11 wherein the clamp arm 74 has a stationary clamping element 75 and a movable clamping element 76 adjustable by means of a threaded bolt and handle 77 in the same manner as above described with respect to Fig. 5. In this connection, it will be noted in Fig. 5 that a pair of guide. stems. 19' are arranged in spaced relation upon opposite sides of clamp adjusting bolt 16 and are secured to the clamping block 19 for movement therewith. Intermediate portions of the stem 19' are slideably positioned' thru the clamp element 15.

Referring again to Fig. 11, boss 78 on clamp arm 74 receives the lower end of hollow upright standard 79.

Vertically adjustable shaft is partially positioned within standard 79 and extends upwardly therefrom and is: secured in adjusted position by the cap 28'29, which operates in conjunction with a collet 31. in the same manner as. above described with respect to. Fig. 4 to thereby keep the shaft 80 in position.

There is also a cap 81 at the upper end of shaft 80, which supports the transverse traction. bar 82 and secures the same in position by the set screw 83.

A. pair of laterally extending vertically spaced hooks 8'4 and 85 are secured to the shaft 80 for suspending fluid containers such as are shown in Fig. 1-. Clamping arms 86 as shown in Figs. 11 and 12 are formed with a central enlarged portion or boss 87, which extends around and frictionally engages the shaft 80.

Suitable oppositely arranged container securing clamps 88 are arranged upon the outer ends of clamp arms 86 for further supporting; containers such as containers 54 and 55, either in connection with the hooks 84 and 85 or independently of said hooks.

The transfusion apparatus carrier may thus be removably attached to the upright post of a bed or a stretcher on wheels and thus is supported off the floor by this construction; and the carrier cannot be tipped over and thus eliminates the possibility of broken bottles or injury to the patient.

Furthermore, by this construction when used with a stretcher, the hands of the person transporting a patient thereon are free, whereas, heretofore it was necessary for someone to support the carrier manually.

While the above description pertains to an intravenous fluid carrier, it is naturally contemplated that said carrier could be employed for any other type of fiuid, such as used for transfusions through bone marrow, gastric lavages, bladder irrigations, colonic irrigations, enemas, etc.

It is contemplated that. the present carrier, while shown in the drawings as attachable to a bed post or to the post of a stretcher could be also attached to any upright post or element, or might be attached to any upright .portion of a chair. By employing the table construction above described, such carrier could thereby provide a portable operating chair.

Having described my invention reference should now be had to the claim which follows for determining the scope thereof. I claim:

An intravenous fluid carrier comprising an upright elongated tubular standard, a laterally extending bracket arm secured at one end to the lower end of said standard, a clamping device at the outer end of said arm adapted for securing engagement with the post of a bed or stretcher, a telescoping shaft adjustablypositioned within said standard and projecting upwardly therefrom, means receiving said shaft and threadedly engaging said standard for securing said shaft in adjusted position, a laterally extending intravenous fluid container clamp secured to said shaft, said clamp having 'a boss at one end loosely surrounding said shaft and vertically adjustable thereon, said boss having an upwardly extending threaded portion, a manually rotative cap loosely surrounding said shaft and threadably engaging said threaded portion, and a split friction collet supported upon said threaded portion and interposed between said cap and said shaft for securing said clamp in any desired elevated position upon said shaft.